State Championships

Game preview

BOYS DIVISION II

La Costa Canyon (34-2) vs. San Jose Archbishop Mitty (30-3)

Site: Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento.

Time: Friday, 8 p.m.

TV: 4 San Diego.

Online: KBCsports.com

Outlook: The Mavericks might have to play their best game all season against a Monarchs team led by 6-foot-8 Aaron Gordon, the top junior in the state. Gordon is an athletic and dominant inside player whose brother, Drew, is a standout at New Mexico. Mitty played in Torrey Pines’ Holiday Prep Classic, dropping a two-point decision to L.A. Windward. Hitting their stride, the Monarchs have won 18 straight, matching LCC’s streak. The Mavericks, in their first state title game, will need to control the tempo, just as they did in the regional championship win over Lincoln. With SDSU signee Matt Shrigley leading the way, this is a team that goes six players deep — not just role players but pivotal cogs — something few opponents encounter.

Key fact: Of the 20 teams in the state finals, La Costa Canyon is one of only five public schools.

College basketball recruiting is a bit like an investor trading on the futures market. You’re betting on what might happen.

Most top high school prospects these days commit over the summer before their senior year, and sign a national letter of intent in November. And then the college coaches who recruited them start praying — that they don’t get hurt, that they continue improving, that they used their precious scholarships wisely.

The only two November signees by San Diego State are still playing. Shrigley and La Costa Canyon High are in the Division II state final tonight at 8 in Sacramento. Spencer and Los Angeles Price High are in the Div. IV game at 1:30.

“Very proud of the fact that we’ve got two guys playing for a state championship,” said Fisher, who will attend both games at Sacramento’s Power Balance Pavilion.

Of the two, Shrigley might have the tougher matchup. The Mavericks (34-2) play San Jose Archbishop Mitty (30-3) and Aaron Gordon, considered among the nation’s Top 10 juniors. The 6-foot-8 Gordon is the younger brother of New Mexico’s Drew Gordon and the son of Eddy Gordon, who played basketball at SDSU in the 1980s with Tony Gwynn.

“He’s my kind of player,” Fisher said of the 6-6 Shrigley, who averages 20.5 points. “He’s got versatility to his game, he has size, but he’s also got basketball skills. He can make an open three, he can put the ball on the floor, he can post you up. He’s a guy who will be a hard guard, and a guy who I think in time will be a good defender because he’s a good athlete.

“The nice thing about Matt is he doesn’t have an ego even though he has an ego. He’s not full of himself. And he wins.”

So does Spencer, a 6-9 post who apparently is still growing. The big knock on his game was that he couldn’t shoot free throws, and he found himself at the line down one with 6.9 seconds left in the Southern California Regional semifinals last week against two-time defending state champion La Verne Lutheran.